Black's Beach, located in La Jolla, is the largest nude beach in the United States. It is located north of downtown La Jolla and south
of Torrey Pines State Park. There are multiple ways to access Blacks: you can enter from a sudvision in La Jolla, Torrey Pines
State Park, or via trails down the hillside by the glider port near the Salk Institute.
It is not an easy hike down to Black's Beach, you have to be prepared
for a ten minute hike down a cliff. Where the cliff is extremely steep,
steps have been installed to make the trip a little easier. The walk
down your usually concerned with not falling, the walk back up you are
just thinking how great water would taste. Expect it to take a couple
extra minutes to make it up the cliff. But it is worth it to stop along the
way and appreciate the incredible views. They truely are amazing.
On top of the Black's Beach cliff, there is a glider port.
Occassionally a glider will end up on the beach and
have to hike back up with their gear.
Both photos below were taken in the winter when the people on the beach are very sparse.
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Black's Beach is legally divided into two beaches. Half of Black's Beach is within the State Park, and the other half is within the city of San Diego. While
technically illegal in the city, the ordinance against nude sunbathing is ignored by bathers and not enforced by authorities. There is a portion of the beach
where it remains legal to be nude, from the gliderport north for about one mile. There is a sign that marks where nudity is no longer legal (although nobody
seems to mind). North of the yellow marker is where nudity is OK, south of the marker nudity is not legal.
The house above is owned by a grocery store mogul who no longer resides there. Since 2002, the house has been occupied by Bill
Clinton for weeks at a time during vacations. Another famous resident of the house has been Michael Jackson. Michael moved here after
the last child molestation scandal broke. He stayed until 2004 when he moved to Bahrain.
A volunteer group that calls themselves the Black's Beach Bares, helps to keep the beach clean, safe and maintained. They also host
events through the summer at the beach. Black's Beach Bares are affiliated with The Naturist Society.
Black's Beach is also very popular with the surfers. It is known to surfers as one of the most powerful beach breaks in Southern California.
The waves gain the power due to the focusing effects of an underwater canyon just offshore. It is not common to see people nude around
the surfers, the surfers take the southern part of the beach. The nudists tend to stay north of the glider port trails.
There are two alternatives to hiking down the cliff.
Surfers like to take the extreme path down (as seen in
the photo to the left), they just run down a narrow steep
path. This path is extremely dangerous. There have
been a lot of injuries by people running down this path
too fast and falling a great distance. It is approximately
150 feet down from the top.
